The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Financial Times and the UniCredit Group are launching an essay competition “Born in ‘89” to commemorate the historic events of autumn 1989, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a press release from the EBRD. The fall of the Iron Curtain liberated the people and countries of Central and Eastern Europe and ended the division of the continent. This new generation of young people born in 1989 grew up in a time of rapid change and massive upheaval. The old order of communist rule and state-owned economy had ceased to exist, but a new order had yet to be established and secured. Now, just as they are coming of age, they are living through the worst financial and economic crisis in decades, the press release says. With the competition the organizers aim to discover how the young generation in the EBRD region has witnessed and coped with the changes over the last 20 years. The young people must express their hopes, expectations and also their concerns for the future as well as their reflections and impressions in an essay of no more than 1,500 words. Submissions can be made either via email to bornin89@ebrd.com, via the website www.ebrd.com/bornin89 or via mail to: EBRD Communications Department, Reference: “Born in ‘89”, One Exchange Square, London, EC2A 2JN. Deadline for submissions is December 31, 2009. Chaired by the acclaimed novelist Andrey Kurkov, an international jury will select the winners. The first prize will be a one week-internship at the Financial Times and the UniCredit Group will award further cash prizes. An award ceremony will take place in spring 2010 at the EBRD in London